Allison MD3060 unlock tutorial

[concrete]

One other item that may need to line up on finding a matching donor TCM: the type of transmission controller. Mine is a lever that shows 5 forward speeds(4+D). Anybody know for sure?

[Mgulley82]

Fastest route to unlock 6th gear (not cheapest) is to contact PCM Performance

[bridg73988]

Originally Posted by Mgulley82

Fastest route to unlock 6th gear (not cheapest) is to contact PCM Performance

Do you know what the cost is? I would like to unlock 6th gear but it appears that this is almost as easy as catching a unicorn!

[concrete]

I just emailed PCM Performance to find out. They list some prices for non-custom TCM’s, and the prices seem reasonable compared to others I’ve seen. I’m waiting to see if they do older units like mine and how much the custom programming is.
Depending on the age and OEM of your bus the “official” route may not be all that bad. IH responded very quickly (1-2 days) to me, just not with the answer I wanted. Since a potential “yes” would have to go through more channels it would undoubtedly take longer.

[bridg73988]

LOL, I just emailed them too! I'll let you know the response I get.

[rensch26]

Originally Posted by concrete

I tried (twice) through the OEM, but IH says they won’t approve anything older than ~2004. Apparently they don’t keep records for stuff that old so the engineers don’t have the numbers they need.

This is essentially what I was told as well. This seems incredible to me when I can provide them with all of the necessary specs. I actually used to work for Navistar and I do remember that their build records digitally only go back so far. Still, there is not much they need to do on their end. I'm not asking to raise my governor limit or anything like that so driveline speeds will not increase. Just need an "OK" from them and Allison would take car of the rest.

[bridg73988]

Ok, sent an email to PCM Performance this morning and they responded needing a pic of the #s on my TCM. Does anybody know where that is on a 2000 Bluebird All American RE?

[o1marc]

The MD3060 is digital readout. If 6th is not unlocked it'll only show 5 on the digits?
I suppose I should ask the seller.

[concrete]

Found my tcm below and behind the passenger seat inside the cab. I have no idea about a BB.
Got a reply from Alex at PCM, “sorry, i do not work with this old type of TCM, nor know anyone who does.​”
I’m back to trying to find the numbers from a donor 6speed...
As to what my shiftlever displays, in saying “4+D” I was referring to the black and white printed lettering that you can click next to with the lever. Right now I can manually “click” next to 5 forward gears. I’m Just wondering how that works when 6th is added.

[bridg73988]

Concrete,
"old type of TCM"
What year is yours? I told him mine was a 2000 and he wants me to send him the numbers on it.

[concrete]

My Truck is a 1996 model, mid ‘95 build date.

[concrete]

Also, I am now on the road Alaska bound! I’m lovin this truck! And yes, one more gear would make for perfect interstate cruising. Will be out of Ohio shortly. Slightly detouring north of Milwaukee to visit relatives. Anybody know of a supply of waste ATF, hydraulic fluid, etc on the west coast of Lake Michigan?

[concrete]

I asked passed on your question about “what TCM is too old” to Alex at PCM Performance. He replied that mine appears to be a WTEC2 and he only works on WTEC3 and newer, and the same goes for everyone else he knows. I don’t know how to ID one vs the other... I think WTEC3 came out in the late 90’s. Maybe someone who knows can clarify....

[cadillackid]

Mid 90s is wtec 2 and no one touches it because of lack of a scan tool port. Only way to read codes was through the shifter itself.
Wtec3 supports scan tools.
Christopher

[bridg73988]

Thanks for the input cadillackid. It's nice to have people that know those little tidbits of info share with the group!

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by bridg73988

Thanks for the input cadillackid. It's nice to have people that know those little tidbits of info share with the group!

That guy has one seriously powerful mind.

[cadillackid]

reality is that all of us pretty much here on out are buying electronic busses of some sort.. the unicorn mechanical DT466 or 8.3 cummins wuth a 643 are all but gone.. I want to try and help us all get educated and share information and solutions.. my goal isfor all of us to keep our busses on the road and be able to do as much ourselves as we can... reality is most here dont have the $$$ it takes to send an electronic bus to the shop.. even the scan tools are high priced..


theres a good 10-12 Model years of busses out there that are still very serviceable and learnable by the average guy / gal.. (95-06).. schools bought a ton of busses in that era too. as you hadthe clintons pouring lots of $$ into the education system, and bush didnt kill it off right away so lots of busses were bought in the mid 90s to mid 00's. .. thats lots of busses on the used market now for us to snag.. in my opinion the best ones are in the 00-04 range.. Late enough to often have highway gearing as schools began to go into integrated districts with longer routes, and pre-EGR.. allisonreleased the 2000 series in late 99 so anything after that could even have over-drive..


thos forum is a fantastic source of information.. ive learned a ton and met some really awesome friends from it too!


-Christopher

[bridg73988]

Here is the reply I got from Alex about unlocking 6th gear....


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used TCM with 6th enabled = $900

​new TCM with 6th enabled = $1750​

​to order please email signed and completed order form (download link below) and let me know what paypal email address you would like to receive payment request to.

the form is really to cover custom mapped ECMs. in your case most of it does not apply so you can ignore all the fields except complete the personal info section and in the special comments section simply indicate you want ECB009RF TCM with 6th gear enabled.

thanks.

http://pcmperformance.com/programmin...d_extended.PDF

---

best,
alex

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Apparently they don't program your TCM, they sell you another one.

[rensch26]

Originally Posted by bridg73988

Here is the reply I got from Alex about unlocking 6th gear....


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
used TCM with 6th enabled = $900

​new TCM with 6th enabled = $1750​

This was more than I was hoping to hear. I rack up miles pretty slowly on my bus so that would take a very long time for me to pay back. Like 10+ years.

[bridg73988]

Yeah, $300 or so for a reprogram I could swallow but not $900